Amid growing indications that Alexander Ginsburg may have been involved in the embezzlement of more than 30 million marks ($16.5 million) designated as reparation money for Holocaust victims, the secretary of the Central Council of Jews in West Germany has officially been dismissed from his job.
Ginsburg had been under suspension for the last six weeks while the authorities and the Jewish community investigated his alleged involvement in the scandal surrounding the late Werner Nachmann, who was chairman of the Central Council.
According to the announcement made here and in West Berlin Wednesday, Ginsburg’s contract with the community will expire on Aug. 31.
Micha Guttman, a Cologne journalist who replaced Ginsburg during his suspension, is expected to occupy the office at least until the end of the year.
Ginsburg remains an elected member of the Central Council, where he represents Cologne. But some members of the Jewish community there have demanded his resignation.
The Central Council is the representative body of the Jewish communities in West Germany and West Berlin. It was headed for 21 years by Nachmann, a wealthy industrialist who died suddenly of a heart attack last January.
It was disclosed on May 17 that he had misappropriated at least 30 million marks in reparations funds the Bonn government provided for Jewish persecutees.
Nachmann and Ginsburg were the only of ficers of the Central Council, which administered the fund, who had access to the money.
Ginsburg has denied any wrongdoing or prior knowledge of malfeasance by Nachmann.
But he has confirmed that Nachmann had transferred about $15,000 from the reparations fund to Ginsburg’s wife, though she was not entitled to the money.
He also admitted that he held about $75,000 from the reparations account in a numbered bank account in Switzerland.
In that same Swiss account, Ginsburg maintained about $1 million in “reserve” to pay ransom if Nachmann was kidnapped.
Although Nachmann was dead, Ginsburg did not return the money to the reparations fund until the embezzlement scandal became known and investigations were begun.
Bonn sources told reporters that government authorities were opposed in principle to keeping financial reserves to pay ransom because national policy forbids giving in to terrorist demands.
The search continues, meanwhile, for the money stolen by Nachmann. Treurbeit, an independent financial institution engaged for that purpose by the Jewish community, has promised to have a report by the end of the summer.
Nachmann’s widow, Aviva, has denied any knowledge of her husband’s embezzlement. She claims he left her destitute and she had to take a clerical job to support herself.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
